Quite an assemblage of fancy names for this new project from Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, called Tired Pony, with members including R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Belle & Sebastian's Richard Colburn, along with an extensive cameo list (M. Ward, Tom Smith from Editors, Zooey Deschanel from your dreams). The crew holed up for a week of recording sessions in Portland with Jacknife Lee (who's worked with Gary and Peter at their day jobs, along with Bloc Party and U2) and knocked out a ten-track "twisted love-letter to the States." The first track, a pretty little acoustic strummer titled "Point Me At Islands," is up at tiredpony.com for the price of a functional email addy. It features Zooey on background vocals and a country-folk fiddle solo. Otherwise, if you're a fan of the more restrained side of Snow Patrol's hearty emotionalism, this one's for you.
The Place We Ran From is out 9/28 via Mom + Pop.
